OK, OK, it hasn’t actually died yet, but it’s clearly terminal. But when the newspaper sends an opinion columnist rather than an actual reporter to cover a news story, what other conclusion is possible?

Lexington joins nationwide protests to say ‘Hands Off’ to Trump/Musk administration | Opinion

By Linda Blackford | Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 6:33 PM EDT

During an afternoon break in Saturday’s torrential rain storms, more than 1,000 people filled the courthouse square in downtown Lexington to protest the Trump administration.

We do not normally use photos from what my, sadly departed, best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal, but this one is important. No, not for the image, but for the caption, which was also screen captured: the newspaper not only didn’t send a real reporter to cover the event, but did not send a photographer either; the photo credit is back to Mrs Blackford.

At the top of the article is the blurb, “Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting,” which you can see screen captured here.

Saturday’s weather was truly rotten in the Bluegrass State on Saturday, as a stationary front allowed the continued dumping of rain in the Bluegrass State, though the situation was far worse in the western part of the Commonwealth. Nevertheless, the newspaper didn’t send an actual reporter to cover the event, an event which had been previously publicized and was not a surprise.

The Hands Off rally here joined other ones Saturday held in Danville, Frankfort, Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green and hundreds of cities around the nation.

Speakers included a host of Democratic politicians like Lexington Representative Adrielle Camuel, who stuck to the day’s theme.

“Take your hands off our free speech, take your hands off our elections, take your hands off our public schools and public universities, take your hands off our libraries, take your hands off our clean water,” she shouted to big cheers. “Take your hands off our Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security — these are benefits we paid for.

In 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris Emhoff beat Donald Trump 83,387 (57.93%) to 57,347 (39.84%) in Fayette County, but Fayette and Jefferson counties are the only ones she carried; the other 118 counties were carried by then-former President Trump, who won the Bluegrass State 1,337,494 (64.47%) to 704,043 (33.94%). The late Malcolm Jewell, one of my professors at the University of Kentucky, once said that both the Democrat and Republican candidates were almost guaranteed 40% of the vote, and the battle was only for the middle 20%, but the now former Vice President couldn’t even reach that threshold.

One has to wonder if the newspaper’s editorial direction has something to do with its loss of readership outside of Lexington. The newspaper has not endorsed a Republican for President, for the Senate, or for the House of Representatives for as far back as I could find digital records. In every case, the candidate they endorsed lost the general election in the Sixth District and statewide.

In 2022, no serious candidate ran for the Democratic nomination for the Sixth District House race, so a perennial kook candidate won the primary, a candidate so bad that neither Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) nor the state Democratic Party supported him, but, rather than endorse incumbent Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) , the newspaper chose to make no endorsement at all for the contest.^[1]The newspaper did not make an endorsement for President in 2024, due to McClatchy regulations placed on endorsements.

In what kind of shape is the newspaper?

Herald-Leader to change print publication days, delivery method in next step of digital push

By Richard A. Green | May 31, 2024 | 6:00 AM EDT

Beginning Aug. 5, we will transition to a 24/7 digital product with three days of high-quality, locally focused print editions a week.

Those editions will publish Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and be delivered by mail. They will arrive on the same day as publication, in most cases, along with your regular mail delivery.

The Sunday newspaper will land on Saturday because of the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery schedule. Single copies also will be available at select retail locations.

There’s more at the original.

So, no same day publication, no home delivery in the morning, but by the mailman at whatever time he arrives.

If we were actually seeing “high-quality, locally focused” stories in the digital edition, the home page of which can be seen here, Executive Editor Richard Green might have had a point, but the home page contains mostly links to stories not from the newspaper at all. While the weather is getting several stories today, and the sports department, almost entirely devoted to covering UK football and basketball, is always active, local reporters covering local stories tend to be few and far between.

I will admit it: I do not know how to save this newspaper, and perhaps there is no way to save it.